Background: Effective antihypertensive treatment has prevented target-organ involvement in hypertension, markedly reducing morbidity and mortality from strokes, coronary heart disease, cardiac failure, and hypertensive emergencies. However, the incidence of hypertension-related end-stage renal disease continues to increase, suggesting that therapeutic reduction in arterial pressure by itself is not sufficient to prevent the development of hypertensive renal failure.
Objective: To examine experimental and clinical data concerning the protective effect of reduction of arterial pressure on the progression of hypertension-related renal disease, and the evidence indicating that some antihypertensive agents may afford more nephroprotection, over and above that attributable to reduction of arterial pressure.
Results: Results of numerous studies clearly indicate that adequate control of arterial pressure, irrespective of the antihypertensive agent used, slowed the progression of renal disease. Results of some studies suggest that lowering arterial pressure below the level that is usually considered adequate has an additional beneficial effect by slowing the progression of renal injury.
Conclusion: Results of a number of studies evaluating nephroprotective effects of various drugs and regimens have indicated that certain agents, most notably angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and their combination with calcium antagonists, afford more protection than do others at similar levels of reduction of arterial pressure. Results of still other studies suggest that certain agents that exert greater nephroprotection are more efficient at controlling arterial pressure. Therefore, further data are needed before any final conclusion can be drawn. However, it is clear that, in order to establish nephroprotection in patients with essential hypertension, the problem should not be further complicated by additional comorbid diseases such as diabetes mellitus.